Being a Driving Buddy -- What it's Like
"The Test of Pride"
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CONCLUSION OF TRAFFIC PSYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES FROM OBSERVATIONS |
Two Concepts of Driving Buddies?
According to Chris
Murakami's (G6) interpretation of a Driving Buddy, drivers who
receive critiques from passengers or what is known as "driving buddies"
in this case, should not be offended by the comments that is made to them
while driving. Their critique is a means to simply let the driver be aware
of some of the actions (physical or verbal) that take place while he/she
is behind the wheel. It is by no means to judge or condemn the driver,
but rather to broaden the self-awareness that the driver may think he/she
knows while driving on the road.
Angie Inouye of generation 6 gives a brief overview of her report entitled, "Traffic Psychology," and mentions some of the procedures needed to observe and work with sources to critique their driving skills. One of the techniques she uses as a driving buddy is choosing a topic for her to focus on such as, "driving attitudes." She would then interact with the driver by asking questions as soon as he/she would get into the car -- for example, "What are your feelings when you first start up your engine," or "How do you feel when you know that there will probably be traffic up ahead because of rush hour?" Questions such as these are all part of being a driving buddy. It sort of helps them to control their behavior in one way or another -- or, if anything, it makes them more aware of the kinds of behavior that they have while driving a vehicle.
Everyone should have a personality make-over. Personality make-over in this sense refers to the "psychological states of the person while driving: Various emotions, thought, feelings, and behaviors," as is implied in the article by one of the students in Dr. James' prior generations.
OBSERVATIONS ?
At first, it felt pretty awkward to ask, and hard to convince, my roommate if I could observe her driving for a couple of days for a class project. However, once I mentioned the details to her, and insisted that it would be for her benefit, she uneasily agreed. The only way she would do it, however, was if I were to take the test also -- I agreed. I noticed that at the start of the observation day, she thought it was going to be fun -- I concurred. We drove around on a Saturday morning -- just crusing to nowhere. At this time, I started to take note of her style of driving. She started off great -- buckled her seat belt, fixed her mirror, etc. Once we were on the road, I didn't want to make her feel too uncomfortable, so I decided to give it sometime before I actually started to ask her some of her thoughts and feelings. It came to a point where I started to ask her to start to think aloud about the thoughts that came through her mind about driving and what was some of the observations she noticed that was going on around her.
In the beginning of the trip, she said that she was thinking of basically nothing ? I mean, her thoughts were on a project that she was preparing for that weekend (it had nothing to do with the focus of driving). However, as time went by, I noticed how she would get perturbed by drivers who would take a long time to cut in front of her when they had their blinkers on from way back. I asked her what was she feeling with the actions of the other driver. She said, "Well, he?s got his blinkers on, and I?m letting him advance in, but he?s taking forever to cut in front of me. Is he going or staying." When she made that comment, I could relate with her. I often feel the same way. There?s a time to be cautious, but overly cautious can cause accidents.
My friend is usually a calm and collected driver and I notice how she gets into some kind of phase and takes hersweet time in driving. She has a bad habit of daydreaming while she?s at a stop light for example. She tends to forget that people are behind her trying to get by. I asked her how she felt about that type of situation. She claims that she doesn?t do that and that if she does do it, eventually she?ll realize it and then move on ? she says, "they can wait."
All in all, the first day of observation was pretty interesting. I had the opportunity to mention to her some of the unobserved thoughts and feelings that she had behind the wheel which made her realize a bit more how she actually drove. She didn?t seem to mind that much, in fact, she was pretty tickled about what I had observed while she drove and that she never thought about things like that. I also mentioned to her that it would be a good idea for her to start to self-witness the things that she thinks and feels behind the way ? that way, she could probably relieve herself from much of the stress that could happen while driving.
As I explained to her the second part of the project, I began preparing for some criticism from her in that she probably wouldn?t want to be told how to drive. To my surprise, she went along with the whole deal about my project.
On the second day of observation, I tried to not be so pushy with her at first about how I thoughtshe should drive. My strategy was to get her in a good mood first so that she wouldn?t get offended by me telling her how to drive. As we proceeded, I mentioned to her a few tips in driving. First of all, I mentioned to her to think aloud about my comments as she drove. Secondly, I suggested that she shouldn?t hold back on her comments to me for I needed to find out how she was feeling at the time.
While driving, I took note and told her that she should stay on the right hand lane if she was moving at a slower pace than the rest of the traffic. I also noted how she should be more aware of the cars that are behind her in that they could probably get disturbed in the way she manuevered the car. She tends to make me nervous when she cuts lanes. Although she is good about signaling when ready to cut to another lane, she sort of hesitates making the other driver slow down. Another factor I mentioned to her about her driving was to think ahead. She often makes sudden turns into streets making it very uncomfortable for me as a passenger.
After giving her some suggestions about her driving, my friend didn?t really adhere to the idea. She didn?t really know that it bothered me and other drivers not to mention. She did, however, agree that it was for the best that she was made aware of some of the things that she does while driving.
After the two day observation period, I gathered all the data that was taken and compiled them into what I will explain in the 3 domains in traffic psychology regarding my friend.
3 DOMAINS IN TRAFFIC PSYCHOLOGY --
As I mentioned, my friend is a pretty cool-headed driver. Although she did get disturbed by some of the factors out on the road, for example, the driver who took long to cut in front of her, she actually didn?t have any ill thoughts about other drivers. She handled herself well in certain situations in where I thought that I wouldn?t. Her emotions while driving were pretty stable over time. Grant it, there were times on the road where another vehicle would cut us off and then she would verbally say something nasty(to me about that driver), but other than that, she doesn?t seem to mind when people drive too slowin front of her or when she had to wait in back of another vehicle because he/she didn?t take the opportunity to turn when they should have. All her thoughts and feelings compared to mine are very mellow. I, on the other hand, tend to verbally cuss out(internally) some other driver when I think he/she is not driving in the norm.
Cognitive thoughts from her while driving were based on situations where she thought that harm would come to her. For example, she would say in her mind how crazy and insensitive some people can be when driving. She wouldn?t show gestures to the driver, but she would loudly cuss out to herself (and me) when an endangering situation was at hand. I noticed how she would criticize other drivers if they weren?t driving properly. For example, although she would maintain control when another driver cut in front of her, she would think and say to herself how they should go to driving school or something. Her emotional intelligence proved to be pretty healthy. In looking at the observations that I had noted, she wouldn?t get herself to the point where she would get into any type of aggressive driving.
Being that my friend is a cool-headed driver, I really didn?t notice any type of harsh behavior (physically) from her. Her driving ability is good, and I think that although other drivers can irritate her, she is not the type to take it out on them. As far as speeding or tailgating others, she doesn?t. I think the only time I remember (and this was before my observation sessions) was when she was upset about something or other. I believe, that that?s the only time that people really get out of hand when driving. Emotions play a big part in driving. For example, if one has a tough day at work, or a bad day with their boyfriend or girlfriend, driving (fast) could be an outlet for letting off some steam. I know that for myself, when I get angry, I tend to drive just a little faster.
CONCLUSION OF TRAFFIC PSYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES FROM OBSERVATIONS ?
In conclusion, I?ve found it to be an asset for, not only my friend, but also for myself from doing these observations. In the article produced by Dr. James called, "Understanding Traffic Psychology," he argues that, "traffic psychology is the study of the social-psychological forces that act upon drivers in traffic," and that situations that come up should be measured through analysis of either self-witnessing or through driving buddies. Although we may tend to become more aggressive while driving in traffic or along with people who don?t drive with the norm, we can control our emotional intelligence by understanding just what it is that makes us feel that way. By measuring the affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor position of my friend, I came to the conclusion that we are all human and that we all tend to be aggressive whether we realize it or not. However, there is a way for the aggressiveness to change into something more positive if we only let ourselves be open to the criticism that we put on ourselves (self-witnessing) or the criticism that our driving buddies can give.
My suggestions to future generations. In being a driving
buddy, one must be patient and understanding to the person that one is
observing. Sometimes you won't come across a willing subject. In fact,
you may get rejections to your plea of being a buddy, but that's o.k. My
suggestion to you is, if you want to be a driving buddy, ease into it --
in other words, don't just come out telling them all their faults ( or
what you think is), rather, make subtle suggestions that will make them
feel good. In my situation, I used a little psychology on my subject without
her knowing it. After the observation period was over, however, I got a
taste of my own medicine.
